The present invention relates to a surgical table attachment for performing shoulder arthroscopy operations, and more particularly, to a shoulder arthroscopy attachment which provides improved exposure of a patient's shoulder during an operation.
In recent years, an increasing number of shoulder arthroscopy operations have been performed as a preferred alternative to open surgery procedures. However, conventionally available surgical tables generally do not provide satisfactory exposure to the surgery area while conveniently supporting surrounding areas of the patient.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,176 discloses a proposed stabilization device for performing a shoulder arthroscopy operation. In this device, a surgical table is provided including a back support having right and left shoulder support cutout portions for selectively supporting the right and left shoulders of a patient. In order to perform a shoulder arthroscopy operation on one of the patient's shoulders, a shoulder cutout portion may be selectively removed from the bask support after the patient has been placed on the table in order to expose the shoulder for the operation.
While the known devices for shoulder arthroscopy operations facilitate such operations, there continues to exist a need for a patient support which provides improved exposure of the shoulder area and which is easily manipulated at the time the patient is positioned on the surgical table. In addition, there is a need for a shoulder arthroscopy attachment which may be used in combination with an existing multi-function surgical table whereby the capabilities of the surgical table are increased.